The Bottom Line
Bachata is the music of the Dominican Republic's lower classes, full of colorful imagery, double entendres and music that "sings the blues" - Dominican style. This terrific DVD takes you through the history of the genre, with Luis Vargas as your guide. Shot in the Dominican Republic and New York, it masterfully tells the tale of a genre that tells the tale of a people. If you like bachata, you will love this film!
Pros
- History of a musical genre, told by the artists that create it
Cons
- A little patchy, few full performances
Description
- The story of bachata, shot in the Dominican Republic & New York and narrated by Luis Vargas
- Performances and interviews by some of the great names in bachata
- Luis Vargas, Teodoro Reyes, Luis Segura Jose Manuel Calderon, Luis Dias, Raulin Rodriguez and more
- Bonus features include interviews, performances in artist's backyards.
Guide Review - DVD Review: Luis Vargas - Santo Domingo Blues
Bachata is a musical form little known outside the Dominican Republic until sometime in the 1960s. As music of the poorer, lower classes, it was hidden; a 'bachatero' was stigmatized by negative sterotype and even the music's audience took pains to hide their appreciation of the form.
Luis Vargas, crowned the 'supreme king of bachata", narrates bachata's journey from it's clandestine roots through acceptability to world popularity. Born in the small town of Santa Maria, Vargas was one of 13 children; we are allowed a peek into the world from which he came with scenes of his home and interviews with his father.
Bachata is also viewed through the eyes of other seminal names in the genre: Eladio Romero Santos and Aridia Ventura (both of whom died a few months after filming), Jose Manuel Calderon, Raulin Rodriguez, Luis Segura, Teodoro Reyes and more. The film contains interviews, musical performances and colorful scenes of everyday life in the Dominican Republic.
It's interesting that while bachata is often called the "music of bitterness" (usually due to foiled love), the artists express little bitterness as they describe and illuminate their struggles and the music's rise. But that may well be due to the abounding and accepting folk philosophy that seems part of the Dominican personality and has worked its way into the people's music.
In 1997, an announcement was made to the world that Luis Vargas had died in a car crash. When Vargas heard the news, what do you think he did? Why he wrote a bachata about it!
